The itemized bill came in July. It came to $929.34 before the insurance company adjustments brought it down to $293.43, not including the separate charges for the doctor. But I looked at the things I was being billed for. It doesn't matter to me that "the insurance company is paying" because ultimately, I pay them. I don't want to be overcharged, no matter who is paying. So I'm mentally checking off the items, Drugs/Generic - $13.29. That must be the valium they gave me. A little high for one pill, but I guess you've got to pay the staff to bring it to you with a cup of water. Emergency Room, 2 Units - $496.00. Am I being charged for two rooms? I only used one room. I must ask about that. Pharmacy-General, 2 Units - $86.98. That must be the two injections I had before I left. (If we go back and look at my blog about that event, we see that I had to be somewhat insistent to get those.) Then there was Pharmacy-Other - $333.07. Surely that's not the charge for the band-aid they put on the injection site? Must ask about that one. When I called, no one was actually sure what was meant by 2 Units of Emergency Room, but since the charge wasn't unreasonable, I let it go. But then we got to the Pharmacy-Other charge. I was told that it was for one 4 mg Zofran tablet. Really? $333.07 for one pill? But here's the rub. All they gave me was one valium. And that didn't knock me out. Remember that I had to ask for the injections because I still felt pain. You would think that with a $300 pill, I wouldn't have needed any injections. The $300 ER bill wasn't unreasonable, it's just that I did not get any pill other than the valium. I was perfectly willing to pay the bill, but I questioned the pharmacy charge. The young man I spoke with advised me to request an audit of the charges. I agreed to request the audit of the charges because I was certain that they had charged that $300 pill to the wrong account.
So now here we are, a couple of months later and I've just received a letter from them, still insisting that I had the $300 pill that I didn't have AND a decision that an additional $1028.00 needed to be added to my bill because it was ER level 3 instead of ER level 2. (Now I know what the 2 Units meant.) This is crazy. I had the audacity to question a $300 pill so they've slapped me with an additional thousand dollars. I called them to let them know that I STILL didn't have that pill and to ask what Level 3 meant. The young man on the phone "understood" my frustration over the pill, but didn't actually know what constituted Level 3. So I asked him how many levels there were. He thought there were three total. So it would seem that in the auditor's estimation I went from uncomfortable to near death and should be charged an additional thousand dollars. (Someone in a Level 3 condition probably needs a $300 pill.) And just for the record, I think I was probably more of a Level 1 when I got there instead of a Level 2, so to be elevated to a Level 3 is pretty remarkable. I'm thinking that if Level 3 is the most serious, you should be covered in blood and/or in cardiac arrest.
Here's the bottom line. I was never unconscious. They couldn't have given me a pill ($300 or otherwise) without my knowledge and cooperation. They need to be looking at whoever had access to the pharmacy that night, but instead they have added a thousand dollars to my bill primarily because they can. I don't know whether the insurance company will roll over and pay them or not. I'm told that I have no recourse other than to go to the facility and ask to see my records. I'm not sure what difference that will make when they're going to insist that I was near death and had a $300 pill. I think $1000 is a high price to pay to ask a question.
No comments:
Post a Comment